It all Started with a Chair
by Erica T
Summary: Mostly Ginny's POV. A possible look at her life spanning 6 years.


  
  


Please Note: I have never written Harry Potter fanfiction before. If it's bad, tell me, and I won't do it again. I usually do anime fiction, so this is a new field for me. The reason I'm doing D/G is because the thought intrigues me, and there are so many possibilities to consider for them.

  
  


Note # 2: I have no claim on these characters. If I did I'd have no trouble paying for University. 

  
  
  
  


It All Started with a Chair.

  
  


Part 1....At Hogwarts.

  
  


Ginny glanced upward at the source of the looming shadow. And frowned. This was not what she really wanted right now. 

"What do you want Malfoy?" She asked, turning back to her book. 

"I want my chair." He said. She twitched her eyebrows. He wanted the chair. What a dumb thing to want.

"There are other chairs Malfoy." 

"I want that one. It's my chair." 

"Tough. I'm sitting here. You're in my light. Sod off." She stated firmly. He stood directly over her this time. 

"I said I want my chair Weasley."

"And I said sod off." So he took her book. She glowered at him. "That's a really childish thing to do Malfoy. Are you ever going too grow up?" 

"Not until you give me my chair."

"Well I'm not. Because you're being a prat. Now give me my book and sod off." When he continued to refuse, she smirked and kicked his feet out from under him, grabbing her book as he fell. He spluttered for a moment, and then she got up.

"I have class now, looks like we'll have to continue this amazing battle of childishness at some other time." She said. 

"I look forward to it Weasley." He said triumphantly, taking the chair. She smirked and left the library.

  
  


And so this continued. At least once a week all that year one of the pair would find the other sitting in the chair, and proceed to bother them out of it. For example,

  
  


Ginny glowered playfully at the back of his head. He had beaten her to it this time, but she would not be ousted so easily. She crept up behind him silently, or at least she tried. 

"I can hear you Weasley." She grimaced, and then smirked. She could still pull it off, she just had to be coy about it. She folded her arms across the back of the chair and pretended to be interested in what he was reading. It was only a textbook, but she could pretend anything. 

"Whatcha reading?" 

"Work. Why?"

"Oh, just wondering."

"Well wonder somewhere else."

"Oh, you didn't think I was going to give up acquiring the chair did you?" She asked sweetly.

"Of course not. Why ruin a good thing?" He said, grinning roguishly up at her. She smirked back, something she'd only started doing since her regular liaisons with him. He went back to his textbook and she continued to read over his shoulder. If they had any idea what a picture they made at that moment they would have been surprised. 

Of course, Colin didn't tell them he'd taken the picture until much later....But anyway. 

Slyly, when he wasn't paying attention, she put a weightless charm on him and the chair, making it easy for her to accomplish what she was about to do. 

"Weasley, are you going to just stand there or-- Hey!" Draco yelled as she flipped the chair up, dumping him on the floor. She giggled and jumped into the chair from behind. 

"That's not fair Weasley." He stated, standing up.

"Why not? There aren't any rules here, Malfoy." She responded.

"Really? Well I'll just have to remember that for sometime when you least expect it." He said, collecting his things and walking away. 

"Hmm. Now what did he mean by that?" She wondered. 

  
  


Of course, Ginny did get a bit of grief about it from her brother.....

"Ginny! You're....you're..." Ron spluttered.

"Yes Ron? I'm what?" She asked sweetly, having just returned, satisfied from dumping Malfoy out of the chair once again, she had seen him from across the library and couldn't resist the opportunity. 

"You're consorting with Malfoy!" He hissed. Ginny burst into laughter, and had to stifle the giggles fast, in order not to be thrown out of the library. Consorting with Malfoy? It sounded funny even when she said it to herself. Even Harry and Hermione were hiding smiles behind their books.

"Am I? I was under the impression that I was bothering him. Not," She stifled another giggle, "Consorting with him." 

"You're talking to him!"

"And? Is there a problem with talking to someone?"

"There is when that someone is Malfoy." Ron fixed a frown on his face that could pass for one of Snape's.

"Ron. I'm sixteen. I think I can look after myself." 

"But it's Malfoy!" 

"Yeah? And I'm a Weasley. What do you think is going to happen? Remember, you're talking about a feud that goes back to practically the Middle Ages. We are a pair of teenagers momentarily forgetting ourselves in order to sneak a moment of fun. You remember fun right? Smiling, laughing, running naked through bluebells, that sort of thing...." She stopped at a raised eyebrow from Ron. "Besides, you must have noticed that we don't even look at each other outside of this library." Ginny said, picking up a quill and beginning her homework. 

"She has a point there Ron. Malfoy ignores all of us anymore." Harry pointed out.

"Yeah. And he hasn't got any friends who'd be capable of having a laugh." Hermione added.

"But-"

"I'm sure he's not going to do anything to her. Just forget it." Harry went back to his Charms textbook. Ron gave a frustrated sigh and returned to his homework. 

  
  


And at the end of the year, they met for the last time in the library.

  
  


"Good evening Virginia." His smooth voice came from behind her. She rolled her eyes. 

"Evening Malfoy." She replied.

"And how are you on this fine evening?" He asked.

"You're not going to charm me out of this chair Malfoy." She told him. "I'm far to comfortable to move."

"Who said I was trying to charm you?"

"You never even use my nickname, let alone my actual name. You're trying to charm me." 

"You're very clever when you want to be aren't you?" He said.

"Of course." She answered. There was silence for a few minutes. Ginny dozed in the chair. For a moment she felt as if she were floating in a dream, before she realized that she was actually floating in mid air. Her eyes shot to immediate attention. 

"MALFOY!" She whispered harshly, not wanting to attract Madame Pince. 

"Sssh. Calm down." He said, then she floated downward onto his lap.

"Malfoy, what are you doing?" She asked quietly. 

"I graduate tomorrow Ginny." He said. 

"So?" 

"So I'd rather spend the evening in comfort, instead of attempting to pitch you out of here." 

"And having me on your lap is comfortable to you?" She asked.

"....Yes." He said after a pause.

"Oh." There was a lengthy pause, and Ginny found herself drifting to sleep again. 

"I'm comfortable too....Draco." She mumbled. She missed his smile as she let sleep claim her. 

  
  


Part 2....Three years later.

  
  


Ginny Weasley had been running late all day. She woke up late, she got to the Witch Weekly office late, and then she had been late getting to her volunteer stint at a Muggle Children's Hospital. Now she was late getting home. And her cat wasn't going to be pleased with her. And now, to compound the day's events, it was beginning to pour, and her wand was inside her robe, which was packed into the bottom of her bag. 

So, to say the least, when she arrived at the doorstep of the little cottage she was living in, she was soaking wet, cold, late, and hungry. 

A simple shower, and a good meal later and she was almost feeling better about her day. At least she had gotten a lot of work done. She was still a little uneasy. She felt as if something was going to happen, but she couldn't figure out what that something was supposed to be. 

She was just dozing off in front of her roaring fireplace when someone knocked on her door, sharply. She must have jumped a mile.

"Now who could that be?" She wondered out loud, the pounding continued.

"I'm coming!" She shouted, and waved her wand at the locks on her door. When she swung open the door she was not prepared for who she saw.

"Draco?" She squeaked. This was nuts, she hadn't seen him in three years, and all of a sudden here he was turning up on her doorstep in the middle of a thunder storm. 

"What are you doing here?" She asked, still shocked. He didn't answer, just stared into her eyes and blinked. 

"Well, you had better at least come in out of the rain." She pulled him inside by his sleeve and he allowed her to do so. He remained silent.

"Give me your wet things, I'm not great at drying charms, so we'll have to put them in my dryer.." She said, trying to get a response. She went into her bedroom, and pulled out on of her brother's sweaters. The one he'd left the last time he'd visited. When she came back into the room, he was still standing there, staring. It was getting unnerving. 

"Draco, you're dripping on my carpet. Take off your cloak and shirt and I can dry them for you. Why ever didn't you use a repelling charm?" She asked, trying to sound like she wasn't worried. Still, he stood and watched her. She sighed and approached him. As he was much taller than she was, she had to reach up in order to undo the clasp of the heavy cloak he was wearing. She grunted as she pulled it off.

"Oof. This might need a couple of hours to dry." She said, as she pulled out her wand and floated it into her kitchen. She turned back to him and sighed again.

"I can see why Hermione gets tired of having to dress her kid." She muttered as she pulled the wet shirt from his unresponsive body. She floated that into the kitchen, then tugged the dry sweater on over his head.

"It's a good thing you're the same size as my brother, otherwise you'd be out of luck." She pointed out, smoothing it out. For some reason, touching him didn't bother her. Had it been anyone else she would have been extraordinarily nervous. Suddenly, in the middle of adjusting it, he grabbed her hands in his and held them tightly.

"What is it?" She asked softly. He held her hands up to his eyes and examined them thoroughly. 

"Draco?"

"What kind of a spell have you put me under?" He asked quietly.

"What?" She exclaimed. He dropped her hands.

"Why is it, after three years I find myself thinking of you again?" 

"I don't..."

"And why does it have to happen in the middle of a job?" He yelled, she jumped startled.

"I..."

"No, don't say anything. I need to figure this out." He said, and began pacing the room. She watched him, fascinated. He looked like a caged tiger, just waiting to be let out to pounce.

"You are an enigma to me Virginia Weasley." He murmured.

"Why is that then?" 

"Because you are so damned different!"

"I don't understand."

"Well of course you don't. You're you, not me. So...so innocent and giving, and yet...and yet.."

"Yet what?"

"Yet so damnably irritating!"

"What happened?" She asked softly.

"It was so simple, and yet so complex."

"Tell me." He stopped pacing and stared at her again. 

"I've become an auror now you know." He stated.

"I didn't know that. It's not as if you made any effort to keep in touch with me after Hogwarts you know." She said. 

"I am. Sort of. I'll be fully trained in a year, it takes a long time to train just to chase bad guys around the streets of England."

"Good for you." 

"I chose that path for you." He told her. She stared up at him, dumbfounded. He continued. "I realize that now, but I didn't before." 

"Me? Why me? I was just the girl you fought over a chair with for a year." She said. He didn't answer right away. Instead, he continued with a thought that he had obviously already prepared. 

"I was on a mission. You know fieldwork stuff. And I was nearly killed by an Avada Kedavra spell." He said. Ginny gasped.

"Oh God! Are you alright?" She flew at him, hoping to get a better look at any injuries he may have had. He grabbed a hold of her shoulders.

"I was almost killed. And do you know what I was thinking in the half second it took me to realize I was probably going to die?"

"No, I..."

"I found myself thinking 'What about Ginny? I never told Ginny.' Instead of thinking I should duck, I was thinking, 'How is Ginny going to react when she finds out?" He shook her shoulders. She looked at him in awe.

"Really?"

"In the space of a half second a whole new block of emotion was unleashed on me, and I realized I had never told you anything!!!" He shouted.

"Draco..."

"Do you know what it's like to suddenly know something so vitally important and not have any control over it what so ever!" He yelled. Ginny suddenly found herself slammed against the wall, breathless, and staring deep into a pair of livid grey eyes. 

"You're hurting me." She whispered. She watched as his eyes suddenly changed from furious, to pained. His entire faced turned to one of sorrow, and she could tell that he hadn't meant any harm to her. 

"Oh Ginny." He said as sank to his knees. He buried his face in her stomach and sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...." He moaned. "I panicked Ginny. I never panic. But somehow, in that one year, you changed me. I don't understand much, but I think I've fallen in love with you..." He whispered. Ginny gasped and her fingers flew to his hair. Never had anyone told her that he loved her like this.

Draco held her around her waist and legs tightly, as if reassuring himself that they were both alive. Slowly, she slid down the wall and further into his arms, until she was sitting in his lap and looking him in the eye. 

"Draco..." She murmured. She saw something shift in his eyes, something like relief, before she closed her own, and his lips crashed down on hers. After that, there were no thoughts, only feelings....passion....love.

  
  


He was gone when she awoke the next morning. She would have been furious if she hadn't smelled the breakfast that was waiting in the kitchen. And, if she hadn't read the note left for her on the tray. 

'Dear Ginny,' It read. 

'I'm sorry that I must leave you like this, but I am not yet worthy enough to convince myself that I can stay here with you. I must make a name for myself, my own name, just simply Draco Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy's son. I must do this before I can justify being able to stay with you. Remember me, please. I love you.

-Draco' 

  
  


Shaking, she held the note in an almost death grip and apparated to Harry and Hermione's house. Arriving in their living room she collapsed screaming.

"Hermione!"

  
  
  
  
  
  


Interlude 

  
  


Hermione vaulted from the comfort of her bed when she heard the scream from downstairs. She shrugged on a robe and raced to the living room to find a very distraught Ginny sobbing on her couch. She ran over and pulled her up into a comforting hug. 

"Gin? What's the matter? What happened?"

"He's gone! Oh Hermione he's gone!" She cried.

"Who's gone? What's happened?"

"Draco!" Ginny sobbed. Hermione stiffened and frowned.

"Draco? As in Draco Malfoy? Why should you....Oh. Gin are you telling me you slept with Malfoy?" Still sobbing, Ginny nodded and handed Hermione the note. Hermione read it briskly, and....smiled. Ginny was faintly surprised when she smiled. She wasn't expecting it. Then she remembered, both Harry and Hermione were also Aurors. They would know exactly what was going on at the Ministry. 

"Gin, I don't know what to say. I knew he'd changed. But I never knew why." Ginny was slowly ceasing her sobs. Hermione continued to comfort her anyway.

"At least you know he'll be back for you. He said so himself." She said.

"Only if he makes himself a name. What if he gets killed trying to. It dangerous being an Auror Hermione, you know that even better than I do." Hermione pulled her into a tighter hug.

"He'll be fine Gin. Believe in that, and he will come back." She told her resolutely. Ginny smiled despite herself. 

"Alright. If that's all I have left to hold onto." 

  
  


Part Three. Another 3 years later

  
  


Ginny was running around furiously trying to pick up anything that may have been amiss. The place looked clean enough, but you never knew, her mother could find anything.

It was Christmas, and the first time that anyone was going to see her new house in two years. She had bought six months after that one night. The night she tried not to dwell on, too much any way. But it was rather difficult. Ginny sighed when she heard a small thump from upstairs. Then came a slight pitter patter of small feet. She went into the front hall and was greeted by a small girl with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. 

"Mama! Dress!" She said, holding up the new Christmas present that she had wanted to wear that day. Ginny smiled. Her daughter was so excited about all this. And so she should be, it was the first major party that the child was to be in attendance of. 

"Brekkie first baby." She said, scooping her up in her arms, and carted her, laughing, into the kitchen. 

  
  


The doorbell rang first at about 10:00 that morning. Ginny, still in her bathrobe, and trying to finish dressing Alyssa, swung open the door to find Hermione and Harry on the doorstep, Harry holding up their own daughter in his arms. 

"Gin! Hi! Happy Christmas!" Hermione cried, throwing herself at Ginny for a hug. Soon enough, all three of them were standing in the front hall, immersed in one huge hug. 

"And would you look at you!" Hermione exclaimed, tickling Alyssa's feet. "I can't believe the last time I saw you, you were so much smaller! She's really grown Ginny." She said.

"Oh I know. We got a lot of new clothes for Christmas didn't we." Ginny cooed, setting Alyssa down. 

"Well, just give me you cloaks and make yourselves at home, I've got to get changed..." Ginny ran up the set of stairs and dumped the cloaks in the guest room. She charged into her room and shrugged into simple navy blue dress that when she had bought it said, "Yes, I'm a mom, but I still have some style thank you." She went back downstairs to find Harry crawling around her living room floor playing hide and seek with the girls and Hermione making tea in her kitchen. Ginny laughed. Hermione looked up and grinned.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing, It's just that you seem to be able to find the tea, no matter who's house you're in." 

"I have radar. So who all is coming today?" Hermione asked, handing Ginny one of the three mugs and taking the other two into the living room herself. 

"Well, you three, Colin, most of my family, Neville and Parvati...." Harry looked up from peering around the furniture for small children. 

"Neville and Parvarti?" 

"Yes Parvati has quite a soft spot for Neville I'll have you know." Hermione said, giving him a playful nudge with her foot. 

"No one ever tells me things." He whined, catching her foot, and a smaller one that he caught a glimpse of. There was a gleeful shriek and Harry was subsequently attacked by two small girls. 

"Well, if you'd listen to our gab sessions more often instead of crawling around and getting dirty with the kids."

"What, and deprive these two angels of their favourite jungle gym?" He said standing up, and bringing the two with him. Ginny and Hermione grinned and shook their heads.

"Is Ron coming?" Hermione asked quietly. Of Ginny's entire family Ron had reacted the worst when they found out Ginny was pregnant. With Malfoy's baby. Ginny shuddered at the memory.

****

"YOU'RE WHAT?" Ron yelled.

"I'm having a baby Ron, it's not that big of a deal. People have had babies before.."

"Like hell it isn't Ginny! How could you go and do something so irresponsible!"

"It wasn't like that..."

"Who's is it!" 

"I don't think that's any of your business." 

"I think it is! Who's is it!" He looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel he was so agitated.

"Ron..." Hermione tried to calm him down but he shrugged her off. 

"Who's is it!" Ginny threw her head back and stared at him defiantly. 

"Draco Malfoy's." She said in a sudden silence. His face went from angry to absolutely livid in the space of five seconds. He'd stopped yelling, but the alternative was much worse.

"You can't be my sister."

"Ron please understand...."

"My sister would never, ever sleep with a Malfoy." He spat. "We're talking a feud that goes back to the Middle Ages." He repeated her three year old words back at her. Then he walked out. 

*****

She hadn't seen him since. 

"I don't know. I sent an owl to Lav, but I don't know if she even wants to come."

"He can't avoid you forever. You're his sister."

"We'll see." She said, as the doorbell rang again. This time it was the entire Weasley family. 

"Mum! Dad! Happy Christmas! Come on in!" 

A chorus of 'Happy Christmas Ginny''s a stampede of feet and cooings over the various small children that her brothers and their wives had in tow, later and everyone was gathered in the living room, and Ginny was passing around mugs of hot chocolate. A new bundle of Christmas presents had appeared under the tree and people were passing around happy tales. The children were running around together, playing a larger game of hide and seek. They were all having the time of their lives. The doorbell rang again. 

"Colin! Neville! Parvati! Welcome! Happy Christmas!" She cried when she who had apparated onto her doorstep. 

"Hi Gin! We all seem to have arrived at the same time." Parvati said, almost apologetically. 

"Oh, not a problem, come on in!" She moved aside and the new arrivals joined the party. Colin stayed behind a bit. 

"Hey, Gin. I've got something for you that you might like." He handed her a slim package.

"Oh, Colin you didn't have to get me a present. Seeing you is a present enough for me."

"I know. I just found it in my desk and I thought you should have it. Go on, open it." He said. She grinned like a small child and ripped into the paper. What she first pulled out looked like a photo frame. But, the photo inside caught her eye fast.

"Oh Colin...."

It was a photo of a chair in middle of the library at Hogwarts. A girl was on her tiptoes leaning over the back of it, and in the sunlight that filtered into the dark place, her hair glinted red as she moved her head back and forth while speaking. The boy in the chair would occasionally look up at her and grin. His hair lit up like a beacon of white in that same light. 

"When did you take this?" She asked quietly.

"Six years ago. I was experimenting with a new type of film at the time. Like I said. I thought you might want it." He explained. She looked up at him and smiled a thanks. Then she gave him a hug. 

"It's the only photograph of us Colin. Thank you, I love it. You don't know how hard it is to describe him to Alyssa. And she wants to know so much about her daddy..." She whispered. Colin gave her a reassuring squeeze. 

"You're welcome." He said. She broke away and went to find her daughter, while Colin joined the brouhaha in the living room. 

  
  


Later in the afternoon there were people spread all over the house. Mrs. Weasley and Hermione were trying to convince Ginny to let them help her with the dinner she was making but she wouldn't let them do anything except make more drinks. That was when the doorbell rang again. After making the other women promise only to touch something if it was burning, she answered it. She stared at the sight before her.

"Ron....." She said, disbelievingly. "RON!!!" She screeched and launched herself at her brother. 

"Whoa." He grunted when she wound herself around him. "Hi Ginny." Lavender looked on smiling. 

"Ron, I wasn't really expecting you to come but I'm glad you did and I'm sorry about everything I ever said to you..."

"Ginny." She stopped her flow of chatter. 

"What?"

"I'm sorry too. Happy Christmas." She smiled tearfully and hugged him again. 

"Happy Christmas Ron." She said. 

"Now, I've heard a rumor that I have a niece around here somewhere." He said. Ginny grinned at him and tugged the pair inside. 

"Ginny, who was..Ron!" Hermione cried. Harry, having heard from the living room was in the hall in an instant. 

"Ron? Good lord, it is you!" The three best friends from Hogwarts were suddenly part of a three way hug, and Lavender and Ginny joining in from the outside. Then they were swept into the party by even more people. 

  
  


It was going on seven o clock when the doorbell rang again. Alyssa had just run into the kitchen to help out. Ginny had scooped her up and held on a hip while explaining that she couldn't really help mommy right now. Colin, looking at them realized that there was no way that anyone else could be the little imp's mother. They were just too much alike. 

"Hey Gin!" He called she and Alyssa looked at him and he snapped another picture. They looked at each other, faking scandalization. That was when it rang. It also rang at the exact moment that her turkey needed to be basted. She set Alyssa on the floor and threw her arms up in frustration. 

"Mum! I need to answer the door. Can you look after the turkey?" She finally conceded to her mother's wish to do something.

"Of course dear. Go get the door." Ginny smiled and raced to the front hall. Only to find that Alyssa, the clever girl had somehow managed to open the door herself. 

"Alyssa? Did you do that all by yourself? What a good girl! So who's here then...." She cried, picking up the girl and looking out the door to see who was there. She nearly dropped her daughter when she realized who really was standing on her doorstep. 

"Draco...." She murmured. 

  
  
  
  


Epilogue

  
  


Draco stood outside the house for five minutes before summoning the courage to ring the doorbell. It had taken a while to find her, after all she had moved out of the house he'd first found her in. This was a nice one, he knew that she had been doing well for herself both in the wizard and the muggle world. It was taking a long time for someone to answer this door. Surely someone had to here. He could see lights, and people moving. Just his luck, she has to have a party on the day he can finally see her. Finally the door swung open slowly. Only it wasn't her that opened the door. Instead, a small girl, no older than two was standing there grinning at him. He looked at her inquiringly, and bent to look at her closer. She looked familiar. She had to be a Weasley child, considering the fact that she had a form of red hair. But no one in the Weasley family had eyes that colour. She looked back up at him still smiling. Then he heard her voice from inside.

"Alyssa? Did you do that all by yourself? What a good girl! So who's here then..." Then she appeared in the doorway, picking up the girl as she did. When she saw him, she nearly dropped the girl. 

"Draco...." She murmured. He smiled slightly. 

"Hello Virginia. Happy Christmas." She continued to stare at him. Then her arm shot out and grabbed him by the collar of his cloak. She yanked him inside with a strength he had never seen in her before. She slammed the door and put the girl down, and knelt to look at her. 

"Alyssa. I want you to go play with Uncle Harry okay." The girl looked up at her and nodded.

"Unca Harry Mama?" Draco did a double take at the word mama. 

"Yes. Uncle Harry." The girl nodded again and ran off. Ginny rose to face him. Then she pulled him into another room. 

"Ginny..." He started. She stopped him by throwing herself at him and kissing him senseless.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" She yelled when she was done. "Do you know how long I have waited for you!" 

"Ginny, I told you I needed to make a name for myself."

"Why? You were fine the way you were. When Harry said that you had disappeared off the face of the earth I nearly died." She said, spinning away from him. 

"I didn't disappear. I told him not to tell you where I was." 

"WHAT!!! I'll kill him!" She yelled. He stilled her quickly.

"Don't do that. I threatened the same thing when he found me. Smart guy. He knew exactly where to look." 

"He found you?"

"Yes. And made him swear not to tell you. I needed to be someone worthy of you first. I needed my own accomplishments before you knew." He said.

"But all I wanted was you!" She cried. 

"What?"

"I hadn't seen you in three years, but I knew. I knew that night, that all I ever wanted was you. You didn't need to do that for me." She said quietly. " And you've missed so much...." 

"Well, I can't help but notice the fact that you managed to move on with your life. Who's the lucky man then?" Ginny furrowed her brow at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"That little girl. She called you mama. I'm assuming that you're her mother. Who's her father then?" Ginny looked confused for a moment, and then smiled at him.

"You are." Draco stared at her, feeling the colour draining from his face. He sat down heavily in a chair. 

"I am?" He asked quietly. She nodded, smiling at him warmly. "I've had a daughter for 3 years." He said.

"Well, two and half actually. It's been hard to explain you to her. I didn't have any pictures before today."

"Today?

"Colin gave me one. He took it six years ago. In the library." She said, kneeling in front of him.

He smiled a bit.

"Seems like a lifetime ago." He said. "It is a lifetime. Her lifetime." He closed his eyes and leaned back. Ginny smiled again.

"Well, it's not too late. She's been wanting to know her father. I guess what matters is that you're here, now. We can put the past behind us, and concentrate on the future. That is if you still want a future with me?" She asked bluntly. He opened his eyes and looked straight at her.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't." He said. She smiled tearfully and threw her arms around him again. 

"I'm glad."

"So am I." 

Suddenly the door opened. They pulled apart and looked to see who it was.

"There you are Ginny, what's the big deal siccing your daughter on me...Malfoy?" Harry looked very confused. He was holding Alyssa by the hand. 

"Hello Potter."

"Harry, I could kill you for not telling me." Ginny said, almost darkly.

"Gin, he told me not to, made me swear a wizards oath." Ginny ran and hugged him. 

"Thanks for looking anyway." Then she turned and picked up Alyssa. She walked back to Draco and Alyssa looked at him again, the same way she had before.

"Daddy?" She asked. Ginny smiled, trying to keep from bursting into tears. She was glad she had shown Alyssa the picture now. She had always been good at recognizing people. Draco nodded at her. Alyssa grinned and reached out for him. He took her from Ginny and held her.

Alyssa wrapped her little arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Ginny bit her lip and wiped her eyes. She went and joined the family hug. Then she giggled.

"What?" Draco asked.

"To think, all of this started with a chair." 

  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
